Words: Trudy Lynn
Image: Pamela Raith

4 Stars

This feels like high budget, well-performed good fun. Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty host a royal vaudeville with songs from a host of Disney princesses. All are very talented singers. All have comedic flair. The lit up proscenium arch is a great set piece. While critiquing the storylines and expectations upon the princesses, there’s also a real love and nostalgia for them. This comes out in the sublime detailing of each costume (Snow White’s in particular is a thing to behold) and the little jokes and distinctive personalities for each character.

The whole audience has a great time watching a rococo Belle sing about going bonkers as all her furniture and cutlery won’t shut up, Tiana singing wonderfully about Disney taking a chance on a Black princess for the first time, Jasmine/Princess Badroulbadour floating in on a flying carpet. Some of the songs feel designed for entertainment, others make some very serious points about female beauty standards, being drawn by men and the colonial narrative changing Pocahontas’ story. The range of the songs from the large scale numbers down to the melancholy solo ballads make this especially impressive. It’s timed well; covering a lot of ground without overstaying its welcome.

When this was first performed twenty years ago, it would have been ground breaking. Now, at its UK premiere, it’s solid good fun and does exactly what you would expect. If you want your favourite Disney princesses to be feminist musical divas, you’ll have a great time. And it does strike a chord in how far feminism has come since each princess premiered.

Disenchanted! The Hit Musical
Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC
19:00
5 August – 30 August (not 12; 19)